While the V.I. Water and Power Authority filed for a small Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause (LEAC) increase for the next three months, Public Services Commission members voted Tuesday to go with recommendations from its consultants, which would raise the average residential customer’s power bill by about $5.67 per month.

In June the PSC voted to bring the electric LEAC down 1.9 percent to .402665, which represents a drop of $3.99 for the average residential customer, and the water LEAC down 6.45 percent to $12.30, a drop of approximately $5.52 for the average residential customer. The rates are in effect until the end of September.

In its most recent filing, WAPA requested that the electric LEAC be raised to .404046 per kilowatt hour, which would bring the average residential bill up by about 55 cents. The authority also recommended that the water LEAC rates stay the same.

Looking over all the factors – from the projected cost of fuel to deferred maintenance – recommendations from the PSC’s Georgetown Consulting Group, on the other hand, included raising the electric LEAC to .416850 and lowering the water LEAC to $12.10 per thousand gallons, or a decrease of 20 cents.

Georgetown’s recommendations got the PSC’s approval; the new rates would go into effect Tuesday.

PSC members also got the chance Tuesday to meet Innovative’s new chief executive officer, Sean O’Donnell, who spoke to the commission about the company’s new remediation plan.

O’Donnell explained that transitioning to new equipment and a new billing operation system has caused a lag in performance, but said that Innovative has continued to show improvement since last month in upgrading and modernizing its network.

The CEO said the company’s new equipment and services will mean fewer trouble tickets and a quicker resolution of service and customer care issues.

PSC members present during Tuesday’s meeting included M. Thomas Jackson, Elsie V. Thomas-Trotman, Siri Hamad and Joe San Martin.